Safety-elevator.



J. R. NORMAN. SAFETY ELEVATOR.

' I Arrndmlon FILED un.12,1 9o7. 900,878. 1 Patented Oct. 13,1908.

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Patented'0ct 13, 1908.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. NORMAN, OF BYINGTON, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO M. E.EMMER- SON AND ONE-FOURTH TO .T. F. POGUE, OF BYINGTON,'TENNESSEE.

l SAFETY-ELEVATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 13,1908.

Application filed April 12, 1907. Serial No. 367,775.

tion.

This invention contemplates certain new and useful improvements insafety elevators, and the invention has for its object an improvedconstruction of automatic door looking and unlocking means which will beentirely out of the control of the conductor of the car, and which willbe simple and durable in construction and efficient in operation, and soarranged that the doors at the respective floors will be held locked inclosed position except when the car is at the door, in which event thedoor will be automatically unlocked.

With this and other objects in view as will more fully appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions,arrangements and combinations of the parts which I shall hereinafterdescribe and then point out the novel features in the appended claim.

For a full understanding of the invention and the merits thereof andalso to acquire a knowledge of the details of construction of the meansfor effecting the result, reference is to be had to' the followingdescription and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of an elevator shaft illustrating theimprovements of my invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional viewthereof; Fig. 3'is a detail sectional view illus-. trating thelatchplate for the latch of the door on an enlarged scale; Fi 4 is adetail erspective view of the latch ate detached; ig. 5 is a horizontalsectionaH view through the door illustratin it in locked position; 3nd,Fig. 6 is a detai perspective view of the cor. r

Corresponding and likeparts are referred to in the following descriptionand indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same referencecharacters.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates an elevator shaft ofany desired construction and design, except as hereinafter noted, and 2designatesthe elevator car or cage which is adapted to move up and downin the shaft and which may be raised and lowered by the operating means,either mechanical or electrical, the cable 3 being shown arranged forthis purpose, in the resent instance, merely for the purpose of ilustrating an operative structure, as my invention does not reside inany specific form of hoisting mechanism.

4 designates the doors that are adapted to open and close the passageways into the car from the shaft at the respective floors. These doorsmay be provided with upper and lower wheels 5 and 6 mounted to run uponrails 7 or may be mounted to slide in any desired manner away from orover the opening in the elevator shaft through which the passengers areadapted to pass to and from the car. Each door 4 is provided on itsinner face, preferably midway of its height, with a roller 8. The caritself is provided on its front with a curved guide 9 which, in thepresent instance consists of a plate secured in any desired manner,preferably removably to the front of the car, and which may extend fromthe top to the bottom of the car and include two main portions disposedsubstantially angularly with respect to each other and inclined to thevertical, as clearly illustrated in the drawings. The entrance ends ofthe curved guide 9 at the top and bottom of the car are flared orwidened as designated at 9 and are so positioned as to engage with theroller 8 as the car is moved past a door. It will thus be seen that assoon as one or the other of these widened ends engages the roller 8 ofthe door, the continued movement of the car will cause the roller toride in the cam groove formed by the curved guide 9 to move away fromthe door opening in the elevator shaft and then again over the saidopening. The arrangement of the parts is such that the door will befully opened when the car is at the floor.

Myinvention comprises automatic means for latching and unlatching theshaft doors, such means being entirely out of the control of theconductor of the car, as well as passengers at the outside of the shaft.In order to accomplish this purpose, I have shown, in the presentinstance, a spring latch 10 connected to one edge of each door andprovided with a beveled end 11 adapted to spring into an opening in thekeeper 12 which is incased in one of the guide rails or sills of theelevator shaft and which is provided with a laterally projecting releaseplate 13 engaged by springs 14 so as to normally hold the keeper inposition where the spring latch 10 will automatically engage therewithwhen the door is moved to the closed position. The car 2 at one side isformed with a wear strip 15 which is adapted to contact with the releaseplate 13 as the car passes a floor and push said plate inwardly so as toremove the keeper out of engagement with the bevel hooked end 11 of thelatch 10 and permit the cams or curved guides 9 to efiect the openingand closing of the door as has been before described. It is preferredthat the guide 9 be so arranged that should the door of the shaft forany reason be partly opened at the time the car is passing a floor, theoutermost rail of the two that form the guide will engage the roller 8and merely open the door, the roller passing beyond the rail at itsoutermost point, and the door being thus left open without any injury orstrain of the parts.

From the foregoing description in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, it will be seen that I have provided an effective safetydevice for elevators, which will insure the automatic locking of thedoor and the automatic unlocking thereof by the movement of the elevatorear in the shaft.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

The combination with an elevator shaft and a car mounted to move in saidshaft, the

car being provided with an opening for passaid release plate, above andbelow the open- A ing in the plate 12, and a wear strip secured. to oneside of the ear and adapted to contact with the release plate, wherebyto push said plate inwardly and release the keeper from the latch.

In testimony whereof I aHix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN R. NORMAN. Witnesses Mrs. CYRUs SIMMONS, EVA Bmn.

